


Side Stories: World Building, Magical Theory and Historical Accounts of the Magical World

by DarkkBluee



Series: A Twist In The Weave [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Magic Theory, history of the magical world, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 07:15:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18132605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkkBluee/pseuds/DarkkBluee
Summary: This side-story contains the world building information, whatever History of Magic I've set up and Magical Theory of my fanfiction series 'A Twist Of The Weave'.





	1. History and Origins of the Peverells

“Magic has always existed on Earth. Even when there was no living creature around, even when the world was just a rock of cooling molten lava. And since Magic always existed, Beings of Magic soon followed. The first inhabitants of this Earth, were not those dinosaurs. It was Magical Beings like Phoenixes and Thestrals. Beings that were of Magic and Aspects of Nature. And long after, when dinosaurs died and the first of the primates began their evolution towards becoming modern humans, the first of them to finish their evolution to  _ homo sapiens _ , were not those of non-magic. You see, Magic can speed up and slow down one’s growth and age, yes? Then what is stopping ti from speeding up or slowing down evolution?”

 

“Muggle history states that the first modern humans evolved in Africa and spread from there to the rest of the world around 60,000 years ago. We estimate, by talking to phoenixes and accounts of creatures long dead, that magical humans, the first wizards and witches, were around at least 80,000 years ago. Back then, the world was a dangerous place and even magic didn’t help make it much better. While wizards and witches existed even then, the dangerous environment, lack of proper communication methods and Magic done purely by Will, Mind and Belief, made it difficult for us to propagate and be the dominant species on the planet.”

 

“Our history, the Peverell Family beginnings, trace back to 57,000 years ago. We have a stone tablet, carved hand, runes and intent being the method of storing knowledge from 53,000 years ago. The tablet mentions generations, counted by 7 slashes and crossed off 7 times, and repeated 7 times, to count the number of generations this knowledge was passed along purely through legilimency, before a particularly clever individual carved it to pass it along.”

 

“Our starting point, is around 47,000 years ago. By then, the idea of words and languages had taken root. Communication still took place with legilimency, but the verbal and written word had started to become popular. It was at this point of time, that a significantly felt tectonic shift occurred. This resulted in Magical tremors that were felt world-wide. And us Magical Folk were scared. Investigations begun and within the next decade, Ley Lines were found. Lines of power and Magic running under the surface, maintaining the cycle of Magic and areas of incredible Magical Potential created wherever multiple Ley Lines met. This started a race, a competition between all Magical Creatures and Beings, Wizards and Witches included, to conquer and have such an area for themselves.”

 

“He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark was a very ambitious and cunning wizard. He found the only area on land where the largest number of Ley Lines flowed and met, and conquered it. He kept his possession of the land through guile and deceit, pointing out other areas richer than his, and more dangerous than his, to the other greedy people who came after him. He was successfully able to hold onto his land for 2 years, but he grew weary. He now understood that there was no way for him to have sole, uncontested ownership of the land and Ley Lines. And he came up with a solution.”

 

“The only way to keep away predators, was to have the backing of another powerful predator. Surely, if two top predators came together and somehow managed to work together, he could keep his land and power and be able to pass it along to his descendents. The only question was, which predator would he chose to share his power with? It couldn't be anyone greedy, for they would betray him and kill him in an attempt to keep it all for themselves. It couldn't be anyone weak either, for then the whole point of point of having a powerful support would be lost.”

 

“Then he heard of the Looters-And-Delvers. A family who were most infamous of looting whatever held their interest and then delving its secrets. They moved from place to place, stopped only when something interested them, and then taking it to know all about it. They didn’t pick fights as long as you handed over the item in question. They didn’t hurt people as long as you answered them truthfully. And as soon as their curiosity was sated, they moved on to another wonder, another question to answer and another answer to question. They were powerful, infamous and not-greedy for the same things He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark. It was a perfect fit.”

 

“He sends them a message with his offer. The Looters-And-Delvers accepted out of curiosity. And now, it was only a matter of waiting. He spread word of their imminent arrival and the invaders stopped as soon as word reached them.”

 

“However, by the time the Looters-And-Delvers reach the promised land, another woman, heavy with child, enters the territory, slaughtering thousands on her way. She is injured and expecting soon and He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark accepts waiting till she gives birth and her child grows before making her leave.”

 

“Then, the Looters-And-Delvers arrive and settle. The woman soon after gives birth and all three meet to discuss terms of settlement. He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark takes responsibility for dealing with external factors that are a danger to the land, the Looters-And-Delvers agree to lend their name as support and occasionally send out people to maintain their reputation as deterrent for others and the woman agrees to maintain the internal state as price for letting his son grow up protected on the land. The deal is agreed upon their blood and magic and it binds their Families as Allies forever.”

 

“For the next few decades, outside of their land, there is ongoing fight for the Ley Lines and Areas of Power still. Inside their land, they have peace. The combined reputation and might of two powerful groups keeps others too wary to attack. The woman keeps peace through whatever means necessary for the sake of her son. And soon after, by the influence of the land’s abundant Magic and Ley Lines, the three of them gain a Family name and Magic. He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark and his Family become the Slytherins. The Looters-And-Delvers become the Peverells. The woman and her son become the Blacks.”

 

“The problem starts with the death of He-Who-Likes-Damp-And-Dark. His son and successor, named succinctly in the by-then popular trend one word names as Shaashin Slytherin, notices that the invasion attacks have increased. In the past, they got attacked once every 2-3 years. Now, they were getting attacked once every year. And the three meet again, to discuss what must be done. The woman, now old and grey, points out that she and her and her two grandsons have been keeping peace for the whole land. They cannot give more than this. Shaashin Slytherin points out that he and his Family are already doing all they can, maintaining both trade and war against invaders. They point to the Peverell’s and ask them to come up with a solution, for their only contribution till now was their reputation and an occasional trip into the outside. Peverell agrees to think on it and come up with a solution.”

 

“It is here, that we come up with our greatest idea. Our boon and bane. We ask the Slytherins and Blacks to hold on for some more time, a few more decades, for we have a solution that’d have us be the uncontested overlords of our land if done properly. And despite having known each other for only 5 decades, they agree. The woman dies, the Lordship passes onto her son and then to her grandson. Shaashin dies too, and his Lordship passes onto his Soshan. At this point, the future looks bleak and the conflict has increased twice what it was. But we were done, we had accomplished what we had set out to do.”

 

“The three meet again, at the point of intersection of the 7 Ley Lines running through the land. The stones are set, the sacrifices are killed and the marks are carved into the very spirit of the land. The Peverells bind the Magic of the Land, the Access to the Ley Lines, to the three Families. From then on, no one could ever away the Ley Lines from their Family. No one could conquer their very land without their approval. No one except them could even access the Ley Lines to power the simplest of spells. For the first, and only, time in history, we had bound Land and Magic itself.”

 

“With the binding of the Ley Lines, the Families became the uncontested power in their land. The Slytherins used their new found control over the Ley Lines to completely obliterate any invaders. The Blacks used the threat of restricting access to the land’s magic to force others to keep peace. The Peverells though, the Peverells used this access to further their own studies. This binding of Magic itself had given them both an insight and a new source to safely perform their more dangerous experiments.”

 

“Decades passed, and it came to be known that overt exposure and usage of the Ley Lines broke down the body faster than a natural lifespan and the Slytherins and Blacks reduced their usage. They had already made their point by this time.”

 

“And for 20 generations, at least one Peverell per generation grew obsessed and built upon the previous work to grow closer to their ultimate goal. The surprising thing is that we actually succeeded.”

 

“We started by binding the Magic of the Land, the Ley Lines to us. We aimed to be able to bind, shape and redefine that magic.”

 

“It is only common knowledge, that the aim of all inventions and discoveries is to use them. We had invented a method. Now we had to use it. But what for, would we ever use such a thing?”

 

“Then another branch of the Family, one that had been troubled by the lack of time to finish their projects, came forwards. They had been working towards their project for three generations now, and felt that the best way to go about it would be to use the newly finalized method of shaping and redefining Magic. They were working on immortality. And everyone agreed, for surely, having more time to finish up their life’s work was worth using this new method for.”

 

“The branch family had defined immortality as a combination of three things: Eternal Vigor, Eternal Youth and Eternal Rationality. They figured that doing the ritual for each separately and combining them would grant us the immortality we wanted.”

 

“But then came another problem. Doing the ritual each time increases its difficulty and requirements. They couldn't all do the ritual individually for everyone. No, they had to somehow manage the ritual only once for everyone for each part. The most logical conclusion, was to use the one thing that binds them all: Family Magic.”

 

“So they made some changes and conducted the ritual over the next 15 years.” Her Francois pauses and takes a long swallow of the whiskey.

 

“The result…. Think about it in terms of arithmetic. After the ritual, Family Magic = Base (Original Family Magic) + Eternal Youth + Eternal Vigor + Eternal Health.” 

 

“We now have a long time, theoretically an eternity, to learn, research and explore to our heart’s content. But then came another problem. Just because we have eternal youth, doesn’t mean we have eternal health. So, we did another ritual, and added eternal health to our Family Magic.”

 

“We began to see the side-effects of our ritual soon after. Family Magic started becoming… rare. Decreasing. Before, all who were born with the Blood, were also born with the Family Magic, as it should be. After, there were people who were born with the Blood but not the Family Magic.”

 

“We convened a Family meeting and everyone agreed that the cost was worth the prize. After-all, if people are going to live a longer, healthier life, then surely, the need to more members with Family Magic to ensure the survival of the Family is not exactly necessary. I mean, it’s a rule of nature, yes? Longer lived species conceive less. So what if there were less births of members with Family Magic? As long as the ones who do have Family Magic live a longer life, the over-all ratio isn’t going to change. And it’s not like we were becoming less fertile due to it. Our children were still our children, even without the Family Magic. In fact, we even added conditions in the certain later rituals, to affect those with both Peverell Magic and Blood.”

 

“And so, even with the exponential increase of difficulty in adding to the Family Magic every time the ritual was used, we kept on adding more properties we felt were necessary to be propagated by Family Magic. This resulted in our Family Magic becoming more ‘picky’, our decreasing morality with increasing ‘Rationality’ and the difficulty of public appearances with our ‘Youth’ and ‘Health’.”

 

“We found a way around both. Disguise and Disillusion charms for the attention our appearance brings and a Magical Contract, to deal with out immorality.”

 

“Even with this, by the time we realized what was actually happening and how much worse the damage was, as compared to our estimations, the damage was already done. Our children with Family Magic had decreased to only one every 4-5 generations, our immorality was making it difficult to connect with people and the less spoken of other minor effects, the better. The only good thing was, that the side-effects had tapered off, and our ratio of Actual Births to Children with only Peverell Blood to children with both Peverell Family Magic and Blood had stabilised and stopped decreasing. Any more rituals after this wouldn’t change anything.”

 

“The Gryffindors were the answer to our morality problem. Surely a group of upright moral people with determination enough to move mountains and fight dragons and nundus would be able to guide us better. When they came up with their deal, we immediately accepted and with our knowledge of Family Magic, we shaped a Family Magic just for them, gave them strength as reward and bound them to us.”

 

“You, my dear Hadrian Peverell, youngest of us all”, Francois points to Harry, “Are the only Peverell with Family Magic born in the last 600 years. The idiot before you is one who died of ‘not eating’ around 150 years ago.”

 

“Our ability to bind, shape and redefine Magic is our greatest achievement. We do not even tell this to others unless they ask, because knowledge obtained without seeking is not valued.”

 

“I could have told you about this straight away, without this long of a story. But then, would you be able to understand the gravity of this ability? The possible repercussions? When to use it and when not to use it?”

 

“To be aware, to be afraid and cautious of Magic and steadfast in our determination is the first lesson any Black Wizard learns. The story of our origins is one of the biggest cautionary tales there is.”


	2. Magical Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of drabbles that flesh out the Magical Theory in the world of my fanfiction 'A Twist Of The Weave'.

  
  


In theory, all magic has a ritual in which you give/ask for something in exchange for imposing your will onto the physical realm. Different types of magic require different types of personalities/mindset to cast.

  


When spells are created, wand movements and incantations for them are also decided. These wand movements and incantations are the fixed, agreed upon exchange agreements, conditional on the type of magic and the mindset of the person using it.

 

However, keep in mind that even with spells being a re-usable, set exchange, all magic is still ritual. Because of this very reason and since the cost can be personal, spell effectiveness and their result vary from person to person.

 

To compare between two wizards of similar alignment, assume that both fulfil the minimum requirement to be able to cast a particular spell. A person with a more compatible mind-set can cast that certain spell better, with more power and less ‘cost’ as compared to a normal casting. On the other hand, a person with less compatible mind-set can offer up more ‘cost’ to be able to cast the spell with more power.

 

This is why some wizards can cast certain spells stronger or less effectively and also, why Light and Dark alignment can change over a period of time for each wizard. Because a Light or Dark Wizard is _not_ be able to cast a spell of the opposite alignment (due to non-compatible mindsets), when they do cast such a spell, to make up for this deficit, Magic extracts the price of turning their mindset to the opposite alignment (in most cases).

 

Cast enough spells of the opposite alignment and you will go from Light to Dark or vice versa.

 

By this very definition, Magic is defined as 'light' or 'dark' based on the mindset required to cast it. Magic itself doesn't care what its users classify it as, as long as the requirements are met for a successful casting

 

The only exception to the above rule is Black Magic. This is because Black Magic is a branch of magic that interacts with the fundamental Natural and/or Magical Aspects (Life, Death, Body, Soul, Creation, Destruction, Dimension, Time). It has no set costs and thus, it is heavily negotiable.

 

________________________________________________________

  


Different types of magic require different personalities/attitudes/mindset to successfully cast.

 

Light Magic requires self sacrifice and needs the caster to keep their mind/mental  state to be calm while casting it.

 

Dark Magic requires unwilling sacrifice or willing sacrifice of anyone other than the caster and immersion in the feel of magic itself. The caster cannot keep a clam mental state while casting it, but a passionate one is required.

 

Black Magic is all about negotiation. It isn't exactly equivalent exchange, but one needs to keep their wits around while doing the negotiation.

 

For Magic, at its most basic and primal state, is greedy. So all you give, it will take that and more for what you want.

 

Because of this very reason, ideal practitioners of Black Magic are Grey and Light Wizards, in that order. While Light and Grey Wizards are able to safely practice it, Dark Wizards aren’t. Because Dark Magic requires immersion and it's easy to bargain away your sanity and more when they practice Black magic.

 

Light wizards can safely practice it, as willing self sacrifice is a lot more powerful than unwilling sacrifices. Additionally, they're able to maintain their calm state when they negotiate. Their negotiation doesn't result in as much cost as compared to the unwilling sacrifice of someone else extracts from the Dark Wizards

 

Dark Wizards are not able to maintain a calm state of mind during casting by force of habit alone. Additionally, as their casting includes basking and immersing in the feel of magic, they usually end up distracted and unable to focus on the negotiation, giving up a whole lot more than the required cost.

 

Grey Wizards are the ideal practitioners. They able to both keep their mind, and negotiate a proper offer, not giving in to the demand of sacrifice (cost of the Magic), either willing or unwilling.

 

__________________________________________________________

  


It is safe to conclude that the price for casting Magic differs from person to person. The more personal the price is to the caster, the more it’s worth in the eyes of Magic.

 

For example, instead of that goat a wizard sacrifices (which has no relation to him), if he sacrifices his favorite T-shirt, of sentimental value, then that will give him a bigger boost.

The main point of this discourse, is that magic is greedy, Black Magic is negotiation-based and hence, it is dangerous for dark wizards to use as they dont have the proper mindset

 

Keep in mind that Black magic is always going to extract a cost higher than what should be an equivalent cost. But again, Magic is greedy, and it all comes down to how much higher the cost you negotiate it to. Grey Wizards are usually able to negotiate the least increment, Light wizards after that and Dark Wizards end up giving a whole lot more than is required because they immerse/bask in magic while casting and hence are not in a mindset to properly negotiate.

 

While Light and Dark Magic simply require the right mindset, the pre-determined, fixed 'exchange' and the ability to cast the spell, for Black Magic, if you give without a set and appropriate exchange in mind, and a clear idea of how much more and what  else you're willing to give, magic will take you for all you're worth.

 

____________________________________________________________

 

_This is my reasoning as to why Voldemort went insane. It was due to the ‘cost’ of making horcruxes rather than the horcruxes themselves. A Soul isn’t exactly quantifiable so the theory that he went insane because 'half of soul torn each time horcrux made' is not exactly reliable._

 

_Hogwarts in itself, is not qualified nor certified to teach Black Magic. They have very less, if any, information available on Black Magic. The accuracy of the available information is also doubtful. There was no way for Tom Riddle, with his only source of information being the Hogwarts library and the boastful accounts of his fellow students/future-followers, to be aware of the nature of Black Magic and prepare accordingly._

 

_Horcruxes make one a certain type of ‘immortal’, but they’re still Soul Arts and hence, Black Magic. Voldemort, being a Dark Wizard, wasn’t able to negotiate properly when using Soul Arts and hence, in his immersion, he gave more and more than the cost. Each horcrux resulted in him losing his sanity and looks, as magic being the greedy bitch it is, took more and more than required._

 

_When he left Hogwarts, in the wake of Grindelwald, the Ministry had restricted both Dark and Black Magic. By the time he left to wander the world and gain knowledge, the effects of improperly cast Black Magic were visible on him. At this point, he was irredeemable to most proper, qualified Black Wizards and any he came across would dismiss him outright or half-heartedly warn him to the effects of Black Magic. These vague warnings only made him more determined to do more Black Magic and send himself into a spiral descent of madness and insanity._

  



	3. How Magic Affected the Evolution Process for Witches and Wizards

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A collection of drabbles discussing how magic affected the evolution of Witches and Wizards. And how Witches and Wizards, in turn, were affected by using Magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a result of world-building discussion between myself and cenedrariva in the tomarry discord. Honorable mention to Syl (ao3 nickname D_Genesis), who also raised some valid points~
> 
> Needless to say, it got to the point that I just had to post this.
> 
> Enjoy~
> 
> And let me know if you have any interesting ideas about magic affecting the evolution process XD

The evolutionary history for wizards and witches predates that of ‘normal’, non-magical humans by at least 20k years. Because, 'if magic can age and deage a person, then what's stopping it from accelerating the evolution of wizards and witches as modern humans faster than that of muggles?'

 

While according to archeological and DNA sequencing findings, muggle humans only evolved and started the migration from Africa 60k years ago, wizards and witches had evolved and lived as long as 80k years ago according to the testimony of Immortal magical beings like phoenixes.

 

They were not a full separate species of humans, though one can argue them as such. They are humans who evolved much, _much_ faster than their muggle counterparts because of the effect of magic. And same as non-magical humans, wizards and witches later interbred and hybridised with the other hominids like Neanderthals, Denisovans, magical creatures and even non-magical humans themselves.

_________________________________________________

 

Magical Beings, including witches and wizards had already evolved and started forming societies in what would have still been stone age for humans.

 

Additionally, having some control over the elements would help their society advance quicker than regular humans going the slow route. It also ties in to the reason why even now, many witches and wizards think that muggle are backwards apes as compared to them.

 

That far back they didn't have any proper focii to use their magic. No wands with cores bound to wood, no grimoires, no perfectly shaped jewels, nothing. It was all either wandless or with some random magic conducting stone, wood or feather they’d picked up. This resulted in various accidents. They would have had their hands blow up sometimes. If you get magic wrong and it rebounds, it can blow up a make-shift focus too. Then they’d have to go through the trouble to find another compatible material that could channel or focus magic just barely.

 

The reasoning as to why wizards and witches aren't the dominant species even though they evolved earlier and thus, had longer to populate the earth is because the wild had dangerous predators. Both magical and non magical

.

______________________________________________________

 

Witches and Wizards were a lot stronger, magically speaking, than present times.

 

The most important proof of this is the fact that their communication was done mostly through legilimency. For them, written word came much, much latter as compared to when it _should_ have because of this very reason. Since, as long as only witches and wizards were around, there was no need for it.

 

When modern humans started their immigration outside of Africa, they started interacting with muggles and other hominids who'd also developed a language base of their own. Hence, the development of language and writing occurred for the witches and wizards at around the same time as modern humans.

 

This speech impairment is also what led to the first attempts of muggles to hunt witches and wizards.Yes, there were lots of attempted hunting, but in the those times, even if normal humans had bows and arrows, magicals had Magic. Any intended hunting was not very successful.

 

At that point of evolutionary history, Magic would have made an overwhelming factor to establish superiority over the non magicals. There was no hunting to extinction for either of the species. The normal humans couldn't successfully hunt them and the magical only saw the normals as less evolved pests and ignored them.

 

_______________________________________________________

 

Language changed the usage of Magic very drastically. Since Magic is done by will, mind and belief, and language, is an expression of self and individuality.

 

Using language as a primary communication could weakened their magical power and potential. Language would make Magic casting more precise, but still weaker than original. With a proper base language, their system now became more flexible and limited at the same time.

 

As an example, before Language writing came along, witches and wizards had been using symbols (like pictograms) to denote what they wanted their magic to do. Before, with a little cleverness and imagination, one symbol could work miracles. But now, it would take multiple symbols to achieve a similar effect. And even then, they would be unable to express some of things as desired.

 

Another example, would be the shift of primary communication method from Legilimency to talking and writing. If you are using mostly legilimency and mind reading as your communication, you would need rather strong control of your thoughts, which would be great for focusing when you are doing magic. But if you are mostly talking and writing, you don't need as strong control over your thoughts, because the words are what are shaping them.


End file.
